Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is the solitaire game that shipped with Windows, and the one most people mean when they say "solitaire". You uncover cards in seven columns and move them to four foundation piles, one per suit, running from ace up to king. Only about a third of deals can actually be won. A game takes about 10 minutes.

What You Need

• Players: 1.
• Deck: One standard 52-card deck. Aces are low.
• Extras: Table space for 13 piles.

Key Terms

• Tableau: The seven columns you work in.
• Foundations: The four piles above the tableau, one per suit, built up from ace to king.
• Stock: The face-down pile of leftover cards you draw from.
• Waste: The face-up pile beside the stock. Only its top card is available.
• Alternating colours: Red on black, black on red. Hearts and diamonds are red; clubs and spades are black.

Setup

1. Deal seven columns left to right: 1 card in the first, 2 in the second, and so on up to 7 in the last. That uses 28 cards.
2. Turn the top card of each column face up. Everything underneath stays face down.
3. Put the remaining 24 cards face down as the stock, leaving room beside it for the waste.
4. Leave space above the tableau for the four foundations.

How to Play

1. Build tableau columns downward in alternating colours: a red 6 goes onto a black 7.
2. Build foundations upward by suit, starting with an ace: A♥, 2♥, 3♥, and so on.
3. When you move a face-up card off a column, turn the face-down card underneath it face up. Revealing these is the main goal of most moves.
4. You may move a whole sequence of face-up cards between columns as a unit, provided it stays in order and alternating colours.
5. Only a king, or a sequence headed by a king, may move into an empty column.
6. Draw from the stock when you have no other move - one card at a time, or three at a time for a harder game. When the stock is empty, turn the waste over and go through it again.
7. Cards may be pulled back off the foundations into the tableau if that helps.

Scoring & Winning

• You win by getting all 52 cards onto the four foundations, ace through king in each suit.
• You lose when there are no legal moves left and you have run through the stock without progress.
• There is no score in the paper game. Computer versions add timed and Vegas scoring, where you pay per card dealt and earn per card placed.

Example

You move the red 6♦ onto the black 7♠, which frees the face-down card that was under the 6♦. You turn it up and find the A♣, which goes straight to a foundation.

Variations

• Draw one vs draw three: drawing a single card at a time makes the game far more winnable. Drawing three is the traditional version.
• Limited redeals: for a harder game, allow only one or three passes through the stock.
• Scored play: give yourself 5 points for every card that reaches a foundation. Try to improve your score on the next deal.

Tips for New Players

• Always prefer a move that flips a face-down card over one that does not.
• Empty a column early if you can. An empty column is the most valuable space on the table.
• Do not rush aces and 2s onto the foundations if those low cards are still useful for holding tableau sequences together.
• Deal from the stock last, after every tableau move you can find.